Framework pattern: consulting pattern Series

Mode name

• Framework Mode

Intention

• Make the vision, roadmap, and tradeoff of the work clearer to make the consultant's work more organized and reduce the customer's confusions so that they have consistent psychological expectations for what will happen, in this way, you can work together to solve the problem, instead of making accusations.

Motivation

Consulting projects often face a situation where there is a long way to go between the goals to be fulfilled and the current situation. the consultant may be familiar with or unfamiliar with this road. if you are not familiar with it, a common solution is to take a step by step. This is not a problem, but it may lead to random work content, unsystematic work, and customer confusion, and was questioned and denied after finding a detour. A consultant who is familiar with the problem may be another extreme. If everything is under control, he can follow his own roadmap or believe in the rules of recruitment and removal, however, the customer's experience is not equal, so it is still easy to get confused and question.

This is like taking the road without a map, or you bring a map, but the customer does not know, the customer can only rely on your wizard, so the customer does not know how long it will take, when you choose one side of the interface, the customer will wonder why the other side is not selected.

We need a mechanism or tool to help consultants clarify their ideas and grasp the direction. At the same time, we need to explicitly present it and communicate with customers.

Solution

Select a known Analysis Framework, thinking framework, or solution framework for the problem domain to start working. the framework should be fully communicated with the customer to understand what the next project process may look like, including the final effect, intermediate routes, and difficulties, balance and compromise. without such a framework, you can create one.

There is no new snow in the sun. Most of the problems we can encounter have been encountered by other teams and have preliminary theoretical guidance.

For example, for projects such as reconstruction of legacy systems, we can use four strategies proposed by Kent Beck as guidance: Leap, parallel, simplification and stepping stone. at the beginning of the project, explain the four strategies with the customer, and sort out the actual situation of the customer team to see which is more suitable. after this process is completed, the customer will have a realistic expectation for the follow-up work, and will not be prepared for any difficulties.

Another example is a project like organizational transformation. We can useThe reengineering alternativeCorporate culture model: control, competence, collaboration, and cultivation. at the beginning of the project, I explained these four cultures to the customer, explained the possibility of cultural transformation failure with a high probability, and investigated them to help the customer understand their current situation and expectations, and adopt more practical and cautious strategies.

A slightly smaller example is the improvement of the test policy. The available frameworks include the test quadrant and test pyramid.

But there are no identical leaves in the sun.

Consultation should be more adaptive projects. the framework and strategy only provide a general route to solve our first step. each project is different. any new problems should be adjusted and communicated in a timely manner.

Effect

• Both consultants and customers have a good understanding of the project process and have more practical expectations.
• Through the discussion of the framework and strategy, we will have a deeper understanding of the problem itself.
• But avoid the tendency to hold a hammer in your hand to see everything is a nail.

Known applications

• The agile Maturity Model AMM and continuous integration Maturity Model CIMM are all guiding models created in actual projects.
• The reconstruction of legacy systems and the transformation of corporate culture are also real cases.

Pattern series:

• COC: context over code, coaching pattern Series
• SOS: story over solution, coaching pattern Series